LAUSR

ABSTRACT With the growing use of the design-build delivery method in the transportation industry, it is important to ensure the quality of projects is not being compromised. As the quality process starts in the procurement phase, the request for proposal (RFP) serves as the medium through which owners articulate quality needs to contractors and expect proposals to meet those requirements to be responsive. This research provides a quality framework for state departments of transportation (DOTs) to adequately express quality requirements in the RFPs. This was accomplished through a questionnaire survey and statistical analysis using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), which merged the identified quality requirements as principal components into a single quality index. The analysis revealed that respondents consider six quality requirements as principal components that must be articulated in the RFPs and evaluated in the design-builder’s proposal. These quality requirements, in order of importance are design-builder’s past experience, design quality plan requirement, qualifications of design-builder’s staff, compliance to specifications, construction quality plan requirement, and compliance to owner’s specified program.